The tribulations of living in a home that wobbles across the land

We’ve been on our road trip in our 31 foot Class C RV towing our “toad”, a 2010 Honda CRV, for almost a month now and we’re discovering that living the RV life means that you are constantly fixing things. And no, to those who first hear that and think, “well maybe you just bought a piece of junk RV.” I’m going to quash that thought right now. We conferred with other RV owners of all types, no matter the cost of an RV, With Shaking, There’s Breaking.

Since I’m the default mechanic on this trip, let me explain what I mean by that.

Breaking doesn’t necessarily mean snapping or shattering, although sometimes it does. More often than not, it means something came loose, unscrewed itself, or fell from it’s unsecured perch where it was overlooked in the process of being made “mobile ready”.

We’ve had cabinet doors fly open, as well as cabinet drawers, with a little help from centrifugal force, eject themselves-spilling the contents all over the place while on sharp mountain turns. We’ve had window vents come off the track, only to get jammed up when we needed to vent out our tiny home in times of stomach related despair.

Jacked Up

And of course, it would be disingenuous to say that our trip hasn’t had breaking that originated from straight-up ignorance of how these systems work, or just plain lapse of attention. For example, we’ve had more unsuccessful ignition attempts, thanks to a dead battery, than we’ve ever had while traveling weeks on the road. Three have been due to the toad (the CRV) using more juice in the automatic braking system (engine off, car systems on) than the battery allowed. One time the headlights on the RV were left on (no reminder alarm if exiting through another door) and another mystery dead battery in the RV, the cause of which is still unknown.

Unfortunately, our trip didn’t begin when we were hoping it would. This was due to getting the house ready for sale before this trip could begin, and then immediately leaving once it was, meant that there wasn’t a chance to read through the 12″ pile of system manuals for our new-to-us RV and double check the install and operation of each and every plumbing, electrical, and mechanical component.

Brake Cable Broke

Another fun thing we encountered on our departure date, before we even left the boundaries of Phoenix, in summer (read 110 degrees plus heat), was the check engine light kept turning on anytime we got above 2500rpm (which is almost always when towing). Each time this happened the air conditioner stopped working unless going downhill, which for anyone who has done the I-10 drive from Phoenix to LA knows that isn’t, well, until you get three quarters of the way there.

We had to wait for AutoZone to open to get them to read the diagnostics which said a vacuum line was leaking, of which, a quick google search revealed that this was a common problem with Ford E-450’s and that the fix was a relatively cheap and easy fix². We decided to journey on to Cali and pick up parts to fix the AC once, of course, we wouldn’t be needing it as often.

Fortunately, those have been the most extreme of our mishaps so far. Other items have included, various mystery smells (culprits still uncertain, but we have our suspicions), radio issues, loose wires and blown fuses, a flat tire, and holding tank sensors that lie to us.

If you’re considering getting into RV’ing, don’t let this scare you away from giving it a try. Although things are bound to happen, when they do, unlike with a car, you at least have all your home comforts with you. You may be out some travel time, but if you’re like us, you are traveling at whatever pace is comfortable for you.

*Footnote: For those reading who care what the fixes to these issues were – Item¹ was getting a replacement tow car braking piston shipped from Demco to the super-friendly All Wheel Truck and RV in Redding, CA where we later picked it up. In the meantime, I had a bush fix on the cable so we could still tow, albeit carefully. I later installed the new piston with just a handful of bolts and adjusting the cable mount (correctly, I might add). Item² was done by bypassing the vacuum reservoir line which Ford mysteriously routed from the “doghouse” compartment side, to under the hood, back into the cab under the passenger dash, which would have been hours of removal. I simply bought $40 in parts to add a new vacuum line, T-check valve to a new reservoir, and then connecting to the AC vacuum line under the dash.) So far, it’s held up through the Pacific Northwest, however the need for cold AC hasn’t.